The August 29, 2007, meeting of the Potomac Valley AAU (PVAAU) was held at Falls Church High School in Falls Church, Virginia. PVAAU GBB Chair Jody Patrick called the meeting to order at 7:41 P.M., asked all in attendance to sign-in with Johnnie Mae and Colonel Armstrong, and for all to take an agenda from the sign-in table.
The following clubs were represented at the meeting:
Arlington Matrix
Beltway Lady Cougars
The Classics
D.C. Heat
Great Falls
Maryland Flames
Potomac Fusion
Team Select
Team Sol
The Potomac Valley Vogues
Ms. Patrick introduced Maria Giovanetti of the Washington Mystics who spoke to the group about fundraising opportunities for AAU teams in collaboration with both the Mystics and Washington Capitals. Ms. Giovanetti provided packets with additional information for club representatives who were interested in these fundraising programs.
The next order of business was to select the Chair of the PVAAU GBB Committee. Jody Patrick was the only person who had applied for the position. Jim Butler of the Arlington Matrix made a motion to nominate Jody Patrick as Director of the Potomac Valley AAU for a 4 year term. Cornell Barnes of the Beltway Lady Cougars seconded Ms. Patrick’s nomination. The motion passed with all designated voting representatives voting in favor of having Ms. Patrick serve an additional 3-year term as director of the PVAAU.
Ms. Patrick stated that there are 3 main responsibilities of the PVAAU.
1. To hold meetings to discuss any matters of business affecting the PVAAU GBB.
2. To organize and schedule AAU regional qualifier tournaments.
3. To establish an exploratory committee to examine having the PVAAU holding a National tournament.
P.K. Martin, PVAAU Governor and Boys’ Basketball Chair, spoke briefly about some of the issues of holding national tournaments.
Upon the conclusion of Mr. Martin’s talk at 8:00 PM, Ms. Patrick reviewed the season’s tournaments and awards.
Ms. Patrick noted that the Fairfax Stars 16U girls team had been disqualified from the regional qualifiers and national AAU tournament in the spring of 2007 because there was an ineligible player from Pennsylvania on the team. The Fairfax Stars 16U team had competed and won the gold medal in the 2007 PVAAU regional tournament.
The PVAAU received a call from the coach of the D.C. Heat 16U team, on May 14, 2007, raising a question about a player’s eligibility based on residency and the belief that more players than the 3 allowed from neighboring districts were playing for the Fairfax Stars 16U gold-elite team. The call was made after the initial weekend of pool play in the 16U DQT that the Fairfax Stars were hosting. The DC Heat ended up in 2nd place overall in the 16U division, and on May 22nd after the DQT requested a formal explanation of the matter.
The PVAAU GBB Committee initiated its investigation on May 14, 2007, and concluded the investigation on June 13, 2007, which determined that a Fairfax Stars player was a resident of Pennsylvania and therefore ineligible to play in the tournament.
The Fairfax Stars appealed this decision on June 23, 2007, and the AAU National Board of Review upheld the District Committee’s decision on June 29, 2007.
The PVAAU GBB awarded the regional championship to the D.C. Heat and prohibited the Fairfax Stars 16U team from competing at AAU Nationals in 2007 or any other sanctioned AAU events in 2007. Following PVAAU GBB precedent, the Fairfax Stars girls AAU club was also placed on a one-year probation by the PVAAU GBB Committee.
As a result of the Stars’ disqualification, the following team reps were present at the meeting to receive their medals:
1st place Gold: DC Heat
2nd place Silver: Vogues
3rd place Bronze: Metrostars
In addition, Malcolm Watson, Assistant Coach of the Potomac Valley Vogues 7th grade based team, was presented with a trophy on behalf of his team for winning the 2007 AAU 7th grade national championship at the recent tournament held in Reno, Nevada. Coach Watson commented on his team’s positive experience at the tournament.
After Mr. Watson completed his remarks, Ms. Patrick commenced discussion of the 2008 AAU qualifiers. Ms. Patrick noted that the window for the 2008 qualifiers may be April 7 to May 18. Ms. Patrick said that in light of the earlier window for qualifiers, the registration packets for AAU teams entering the qualifier tournaments would be due on April 2, 2008, and the draw for pool seedings would be held during the 2nd week in April of 2008. The dates will be finalized at the October meeting.
Phil Holloway, AAU Executive Committee member and AAU Zone 1 rep which covers the Northeast U.S. all the way down to Virginia, discussed the upcoming AAU meeting to be held this October in Schaumburg, Illinois. Mr. Holloway noted that anyone who has suggestions or changes to AAU policy must submit these suggestions to him or the national office by September 14, 2007. Mr. Holloway said that the length of national tournaments has been a major issue for discussion lately.
At the conclusion of Mr. Holloway’s talk, some of the assembled representatives expressed interest in pursuing additional sanctions against the Fairfax Stars girls AAU club for the violation of rules by the 16U girls team at the 2007 PVAAU regional tournament.
Bob O’ Donnell of the Maryland Flames proposed a motion that,
“The Fairfax Stars AAU girls basketball club is prohibited from hosting any AAU sanctioned girls basketball event during the AAU program year running from September 1, 2007, through August 31, 2008."
Mr. O’ Donnell’s motion was seconded by Marshelle Ball of the D.C. Heat AAU club. A vote was held and the motion passed by a margin of 8 votes for the motion and 1 vote against.
Following the vote, the meeting was adjourned at 9:27 P.M.
